PSYC341
Personality Assessment
Akile B Zorba
MODULE OBJECTIVES
This course is designed to provide an introduction to
psychological assessment research and it’s applications.
The logic of scientific research is emphasized
throughout the course.
 Also the research methods that psychologists use to
study a variety of assessment-related issues are
discussed.
MODULE AND CLASSROOM RULES
HOW CAN YOU CONTACT ME?
Office Room Number: AS210
E-mail: [email protected]
Office Hours:
Thursday: 11.40-13.00
OFFICE HOURS AND APPOINTMENT RULES
CLASSROOM POLICIES and Rules
Any requestes or messages sent through social media will not be replied to.
No grade changes or extensions will be given as a result of any personal problems
experienced during the assignment submission or exam period.
All requests for grade re-evaluations on exams, quizzes and class assignments must be
made within a week after grades are announced.
Use of the mobile phones are strictly prohibited in classroom. If you are caught you will
be asked to leave the class.
You cannot take any type of recordings (audio or video) during classess or office hours.
Remember it is a disciplinary problem.
You cannot come in to the classroom 10 minutes later than
the start time will not be allowed to come in.
There will be no extensions given to anyone without a
supporting legitemate proof.
Student caught plagirising or submitting an assignment
without a reference (as requested) will be taken to
academic disciplinary committee.
Their work will not be marked and will be givena mark of
zero (0).
OFFICE
HOUR
RULES
Office hours must be booked via the online appointment service in open courses.
Students coming without an appointment will not be seen.
You can come in as a group of maximum 3 people. In this case only one of you will need to book an
appointment. Students coming with more than 3 people in their group will not be seen.
One student can only book one appointment per week.
Every student will be given 15 minutes during the office hours.
If you cannot attend during the office hours or you could not find a slot to book an appointment it is
your responsibility to email me at least 2 days before to arrange an appointment.
Students coming in outside office hours and without an appointment will not be seen.
Lecturer will be keeping records on the conversations had during the office hours which students will
read and sign at the end of each session.
Taking recordings and pictures are strictly prohibited during the office hours or lectures. If realized
students will be sent to the academic discipline committee.
TODAY’S SESSIONS OBJECTIVES
Defining personality
Understanding factors that may be influencing personality
Briefly looking at some of the major theories on personality
Briefly disscussing the techniques used to assess personality
PERSONALITY DEFINED
The term personality is derived from the Latin
word persona meaning a mask.
Personality is a patterned body of habits, traits,
attitudes and ideas of an individual as these are
organized externally into roles and statuses and
as they relate internally to motivation, goals and
various aspects of selfhood.
IN SHORT
The combination of characteristics or qualities that
form an individual's distinctive character.
For example; ‘Jane had a very friendly and
approachable personality’
Refers to a set if unique characteristics that makes
an individual different from others .
NATURE OF PERSONALITY
Personality refers to the set of traits & behaviors that characterize
an individual.
 It refers to the relatively stable pattern of behavior & consistent
internal state & explains an individual’s behavioral tendencies.
 Personality has both internal (thoughts, values & genetic
characteristics that is inferred from observable behaviors) & external
(observable behaviors) elements.
 Personality of an individual is relatively stable in nature.
 Personality is both inherited as well as it can be shaped by the
environment.
THERE ARE TWO MAIN APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF
PERSONALITY:
1. The psychological
2. The sociological
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL VS. SOCIOLOGICAL
APPROACH TO PERSONALITY
The psychological approach considers personality as a certain style peculiar to the
individual.
This style is determined by the characteristic organization of mental trends,
complexes, emotions and feelings.
The psychological approach enables us to understand the phenomena of
personality disorganization and the role of wishes, of mental conflict and of
repression and sublimation in the growth of personality.
The sociological approach considers personality in terms of the status of the
individual in the group, in terms of his conception of his role in the group of which
he is a member. What others think of us plays a large part in the formation of our
personality.
DETERMINANTS OF PERSONALITY
Determinants of
Personality
Heredity
Nature: It advocates
that
Part of personality finds
its
Origins in biology
(heredity)
Environment
Nurture: It advocates that
Part of personality finds its
Origins in environment.
Situational
Heredity (Nature) and Environment (Nurture)
 Heredity : refers to those factors that were determined at
conception. Physical structure, facial attractiveness, gender,
temperament, energy level etc.
Environment : Among the factors that exert pressures on our
personality formation are the culture in which we are raised, our
early conditioning, the norms among our family, friends and social
groups etc.
Situation : A third, the situation, influences the effects of heredity
and environment on personality. An individual’s generally stable and
consistent, does change in different situations.
4 TYPES OF PERSONALITY THEORIES:
1.Psychodynamic approaches to personality.
2.Humanistic approaches to personality.
3.Trait approaches to personality.
4.Social Cognitive approaches to personality.
1) PSYCHODYNAMIC PERSONALITY
THEORIES:
Source of information about personality:
•Obtained from expert analyst from people in therapy.
Cause of behavior, thoughts, and feelings:
•unconscious internal conflict associated with childhood experiences.
•Also, unconscious conflicts between pleasure-seeking impulses and
social restraints.
Outlook on humans:
•negative.
Comprehensiveness of theory:
•very comprehensive.
2) HUMANISTIC PERSONALITY THEORIES:
Source of information about personality:
•obtained from self-reports from the general population and people
in therapy.
Cause of behavior, thoughts, and feelings:
•self concepts,
•self-actualizing tendencies.
•conscious feelings about oneself (based on ones previous
experiences).
Outlook on humans:
•positive.
3) TRAIT PERSONALITY THEORIES:
Source of information about personality:
•obtained from observation of behavior and questionnaire
responses from the general population as well as from people
in therapy.
Cause of behavior, thoughts, and feelings:
•stable internal characteristics;
•some emphasize genetic basis.
•Differences between humans.
Outlook on humans:
•neutral - neither positive nor negative.
3) TRAIT PERSONALITY THEORIES
(CONT):
Trait approaches have tried to identify the most
basic and relatively enduring dimensions along
which people differ from one another-dimensions known as traits.
How many trait dimensions are there?
How can we measure these trait dimensions?
Where do these trait dimensions originate?
4) SOCIAL-COGNITIVE (LEARNING) APPROACHES
TO PERSONALITY THEORIES:
Source of information about personality:
Obtained from experiments, observations of behavior, and
questionnaire responses from the general population.
Cause of behavior, thoughts, and feelings:
•reciprocal influence between people (cognitions and
behavior) and their environmental situations, colored by
their perceptions of control.
Outlook on humans:
•neutral: neither positive nor negative.
SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY IS BASED UPON TWO
KEY PRINCIPLES:
(a)that the psychological person, the environment, and behavior
reciprocally influence one another; and
(b) that people are best understood in terms of conscious
cognitive capabilities that enable them to symbolically
represent events, to reflect upon themselves, and to act as
agents of their own development.
Example: when people see someone else awarded for a certain
behavior, they tend to behave the same way to attain an award
SOCIAL-COGNITIVE-LEARNING PERSPECTIVE
Behavior learned through
conditioning and observation
What we think about our situation
affects our behavior
Interaction of
Environment and Intellect
PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT
Personality assessment involves the techniques
for systematically gathering information about a
person in order to understand and predict behavior.
Goal of personality assessment: to obtain
reliable, valid measures of individual differences
that will permit the accurate prediction of behavior.
HOW DO WE MEASURE
(1) Interview:“PERSONALITY”?
Ask the person about themselves.
Obtain information that reveals personality.
(2) Behavioral Observation:
Watch the individual’s behavior in an actual or simulated situation.
Personality Tests:
(3) Objective tests (questionnaire tests).
(4) Projective tests.
NEXT WEEK
We will look at how interview
technique may be used when
assessing personality.
Please do not forget that you have
NO SEMİNAR classess THİS WEEK.
Thank you for Listening!